


Starting a Club

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Children, F/M, Family, Friendship, Post Bartlett Administration, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-24
Updated: 2008-08-24
Packaged: 2019-05-30 11:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15095966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Two pregnancies





	Starting a Club

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

“CJ, for the hundredth time, it’s speckles.” Danny sighs and  
touches two fingers to his temple.

“I know, but it’s just that Donna’s the first of my old  
colleagues to visit our new house.” CJ sweeps a hand across the  
banister to see if a layer of dust has accumulated since she cleaned  
two hours ago. After they moved in last January, they spent the first  
few months furnishing and renovating the house, settling into their  
new roles (CJ with the Hollis Foundation Executive and Danny penning  
Josiah Bartlet’s biography) and planning the intimate wedding ceremony  
in New Hampshire. They hadn’t really been entertaining much. Danny’s  
mother and sister visited once in March to meet Danny’s new fiancÏ©e.  
CJ’s brothers and niece visited in April. The former President ad  
First Lady visited in late February and early June.Then in May the  
couple had flown out East to visit both sides of the family and Jed  
and Abbey.

“So, the President who’s visited twice isn’t considered your  
former colleague?” Danny raises a brow at his new wife.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Danny. The President of the United States  
doesn’t have colleagues.” CJ wraps both long arms around Danny’s neck  
with a smile and draws him in for a closed-mouth kiss. “I’m sorry but  
these people probably never imagined me having a relationship and big  
house, let alone a marriage and nice home. I guess it’s important to  
me that I show them that I’ve learned how to bring balance into my  
life. I have other things going for me besides my career.”

“Especially the b-a-b-y…” whispers Danny, wagging his brows.

“Ssshhshh!” CJ brings her finger to her lips, but can’t contain  
the smile. “We don’t know. We have to wait until Wednesday when I go  
to the OB-GYN. So much could go wrong.”

“But it won’t,” Danny stresses. “I have a feeling everything is  
fine.”

“Don’t talk like that,” CJ chides, just as the doorbell sounds.

* * *  
“Oh, CJ, it’s just gorgeous. The island in the kitchen, the  
hardwood, the pool…everything. This is what I miss about living in the  
suburbs. Sometimes it’s stifling living in an apartment in  
Washington.” Donna perches at the island.

“Thanks. We’ve worked really hard making it our own. Maybe some  
day you and Josh will buy a house together and you’ll be able to take  
pride in building it together. ” CJ pads across the kitchen to the  
refrigerator.

“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” Donna responds uneasily.

“Is everything okay?” CJ inquires carefully. “Do you want some  
wine?”

“You’re having a glass? Donna asks.

“No. But I’ve got half a bottle of white and Danny doesn’t drink  
it often.” CJ reaches into the fridge for the bottle.

“No, thanks. I’ll just have water or something.” Donna averts her  
eyes.

“Seriously, what’s wrong, Donna?” CJ asks cautiously, pouring  
two glasses of iced tea.

“I’m…I’m pregnant,” Donna whispers solemnly, fingering the glass  
of iced tea CJ had just handed her.

“ Oh my God!” CJ breathes aloud. “Wow. What, what does Josh  
think of all this?”

Donna sighs deeply with a grimace. “He doesn’t know. I just took  
the home test two days ago. Then I had to pack and get organized for  
my trip with the First Lady to California. I didn’t want to tell him  
thirty minutes before I was boarding the plane.”

“Oh, Donna.” CJ reaches across the counter and lays a comforting  
hand over Donna’s slightly trembling one. “ Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just so nervous about telling him. I…I don’t even know  
what I want to do. I’m so conflicted and confused. I mean…a baby.  
It’s absolutely huge.” Donna’s voice is low and wavering. CJ had  
sensed something was off when Donna walked in the house after leaving  
the First Lady at the hotel with her assistant, advance team and  
security detail. Donna had finished her appointments for the day, and  
tomorrow evening after the benefit they would be flying back to  
Washington. When she arrived at the Concannon’s, CJ and Danny gave her  
a detailed tour before Danny headed across the street to enjoy a game  
of poker with a few other men from the neighbourhood.

“Yeah, it is. Did, did you and Josh ever talk about whether...you  
wanted kids?” CJ asks her friend.

Pausing a moment to consider the question, Donna shakes her head.  
“No, not really. I don’t think we have the same kind of relationship  
you and Danny have. I mean, we try, but we’re not as communicative or  
expressive as you and Danny. We’ve evolved to the point where I’m  
living in his apartment, but we haven’t really discussed marriage or  
kids. Did, did you and Danny talk about that before you got married?”

“Yes,” CJ answers simply, taking a long sip from her glass.

“I just don’t know how to bring it up. How did you and Danny have  
that conversation? What brought it up?” Donna is desperate for advice.  
She realizes all relationships are different, but if she and Josh have  
a similar situation as another couple, it would undoubtedly be CJ and  
Danny. Both couples had been waiting to be together for eight years  
and both had careers in politics.

Swallowing hard, CJ decides that she needs to be completely  
honest with her friend. “It certainly wasn’t under casual, controlled  
circumstances. I…I was actually pregnant back in January.”

“What? Oh my God! I had no idea. What…what happened, if you don’t  
mind me asking?” Donna’s mouth is gaping.

Sighing internally, CJ tries to mentally distance herself from  
all the events of the past, hoping not to rehash all the terrible  
emotions she experienced. “ Do you remember that time in mid January  
when Josh needed to meet with me? Margaret told him I was home sick  
with the flue? Well, it wasn’t the flue. I didn’t know I was pregnant  
until I passed out at work one day. Abbey and the Secret Service  
rushed me to the hospital. I miscarried. The embryo formed in the  
fallopian tube, not the uterus, so my body aborted it.”

“Oh, God. Are you okay?” Donna reaches fro CJ’s hands.

CJ stifles back a sob and nods. “Yeah, I’m fine now. But it  
forced Danny and I to talk about how we felt about our future. I  
hadn’t thought about having children in so many years. My career was  
always the dominant focus in my life. But when Danny and I talked  
about our future, I realized that this is what I wanted more than  
anything else. I wanted to share my life with him and maybe start a  
family one day. He was so upset that I lost the baby. He was thrilled  
about the idea of having a baby. And I found myself really  
disappointed as well. I realized that I really wanted to give him a  
child. I wanted to learn how to be a good wife and mother. And,  
naturally, I began to listen to that ticking biological clock inside  
of me telling me to hurry up. So when we moved here I started seeing  
an OB-GYN and we got a fertility specialist. We started trying to  
conceive again, and we looked into artificial insemination because the  
chances of us conceiving naturally weren’t very high.”

“Wow, so you’re going to try invetro?” Donna is completely  
shocked. She can’t imagine what the couple has had to go through these  
last eight months.

Finally CJ’s solemn face relaxes into a wide smile. “ We don’t  
have to. I’m pregnant!”

“Oh that’s wonderful! Congratulations! But I thought you were  
having a hard time?” Donna’s just trying to take in all this new  
information.

“We were. But just before the wedding the fertility doctor told  
us we’d make a good candidate for invetro, that there was a good  
chance that by Christmas we’d be expecting. So once all the pressure  
was off and we could just relax when we had sex and not worry about  
trying to conceive, it just happened on its own. We figure it happened  
on our honeymoon because I’m about four weeks in. I’m going to my  
gynecologist on Wednesday to have blood work and tests done to confirm  
everything is okay. I’m worried that the embryo formed in my fallopian  
tubes again. So we’re not really telling anyone yet.”

“I just can’t believe this. You’ve had quite a roller-coaster  
ride the last eight months. Donna shakes her head back and forth,  
bringing her glass to her lips.

CJ nods and collects herself again. “Yes, I have. But back to  
your problem. You don’t know how to tell Josh. Has he ever shown an  
interest in children?”

“Well, he’s good with kids. He played with my nieces and nephews  
when we visited my parents a couple times. And we have talked…kinda  
abstractly…about a future family together. He’s told me how he used to  
be so afraid of commitment and getting too close to a woman for fear  
of being hurt or losing her. But he’s getting so much better with me.  
And things are getting a lot more comfortable between us now. He  
sometimes talks about getting married.”

“There you go,” CJ offers comfortingly with a warm smile. “  
Somewhere under that ridiculously goofy exterior of his lies a heart  
of gold.”

Donna rolls her eyes, but cracks a faint smile. “Yeah, he  
really is a good man.”

CJ quirks her lips and looks seriously into her friend’s eyes.  
“And he loves you so much, Donna. He has probably for ten years. I  
have no doubt that he’ll want to do the right thing and support you  
and the baby. I mean, if that’s what you want to do. If you want to  
have the baby.”

Donna stares back at her hostess seriously. “I don’t think I  
could have an abortion. I just know that this complicates thing  
between Josh and I. When we got together there was some hype in the  
press for about a week. But in the end we simply said that we’re  
adults who haven’t done anything wrong or even unethical because we  
weren’t in a relationship when I was working as his assistant. But  
what’s gonna happen when everyone finds out that we’re having a baby?  
I can only imagine what the Wall Street Journal is going to say.”

CJ rolls her eyes but can’t contain a smile.“ I understand how  
you feel. I was press secretary for six years. I can fathom the sheer  
ruthlessness of the White House Press Corp. But you’ll see that there  
might be one or two…sympathetic correspondents who are more concerned  
with the truth than with writing a selling story.”

“Unfortunately there are no more Danny Concannon’s in the press  
room,” Donna chuckles lightly.

“Regardless, you know that it doesn’t matter what the public  
thinks. You and Josh will figure out what’s best for you.’ CJ nods  
emphatically.

“You really have changed,” Donna chides good-naturedly.

“So, you gonna be okay?” CJ inquires cautiously.

Donna frowns lightly.“ Yeah. We’ll figure the whole thing out  
together. I know Josh loves me and hopefully he’ll be okay once the  
initial shock wears off. And hey, our babies will be born around the  
same time so maybe we can compare parenting strategies. It’ll be nice  
to have a friend who’s going through the same thing.”

CJ smiles largely. “When we’re going through morning sickness and  
weight gain we’ll have someone who can sympathize. And maybe when the  
babies are older they’ll become friends.”

“What if one’s a girl and one’s a boy and they grow up and get  
married to each other?” Donna gushes with a giggle.

CJ rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “Oh, come on, Donna. That’s  
never going to happen.”

* * *  
“Hi, honey, I’m home!” Danny calls goofily as he walks into the  
foyer.

“In the den,” comes CJ’s response. “How was your game?” She  
enquires when Danny enters the room and comes over to the couch to  
plant an open-mouthed kiss to her lips.

“You’re such newly weds. I love it,” Donna laughs, shaking her  
head and leaning back into the couch. She feels like a huge weight  
has been lifted from her shoulders. CJ assured her that she and Josh  
would be fine. Donna was going to tell Josh that she wanted him to be  
as involved with the baby as he wanted to be. But deep inside she can  
predict that Josh (probably after an initial aneurism) will want to  
get married and raise the baby together.

Danny just grins insanely. It seems like the first time in his  
relationship with CJ that they’ve got everything figured out and  
events are going in the direction they’d like. “ It was good. Did you  
ladies have a nice chat?”

“I told Donna about the baby,” CJ admits kind of bashfully.

Danny’s eyes widen in surprise. “ Ah-kay. But I thought we  
weren’t telling anyone?”

CJ shrugs. “Well, we aren’t. But I couldn’t really resist,”

“Because I told her I was pregnant,” Donna reveals.

Once again, Danny’s eyes dilate. “Are you starting a club?” Danny  
teases in jest. “ Nah, that’s great, Donna. Congratulations.”

“Thanks. Well, I think I’m going to head to bed. It’s been a long  
day and going through all these changes to grow this baby is  
exhausting work.” Donna lifts herself off the couch.

CJ stands up and Danny droops an arm across her back. “There’s  
clean linen on the guest bed and towels in the bathroom. Do you need  
anything else before we turn in?”

“No, thanks. And I really appreciate you letting me stay here.  
I’m glad we had a chance to catch up. And congratulations again on  
the baby. You’ve obviously worked hard and you deserve it immensely.”  
Donna draws CJ into a hug, so glad her job had provided an  
opportunity to talk with a close friend.  
* * *

“Do you think Donna’s gonna be okay?” Danny inquires, rubbing  
circular patterns across CJ’s bare back as she curls into his chest.

“Yeah, I think she will. Josh can be denser than a ten pound  
sack of stupid, but he loves Donna and he’s honourable. Maybe this  
will force the two of them to figure out their future. Just like we  
had to figure out what we wanted after the miscarriage.” CJ sighs and  
snuggles closer to her new husband. Talking about it has become easier  
with time, but it’s still very painful. The last few days knowing  
they’re expecting have been the happiest of their time together, and  
it helps to ease the difficulty of dealing with the previous pregnancy.

Danny turns up CJ’s chin to look at him. “Darling, I know we said  
we weren’t gonna get excited about the baby until we found out for  
sure that everything was all right. But I can’t help but feel elated.  
It was so hard these last months coming to terms with the miscarriage  
and then seeing if we could have another one. I have a really good  
feeling about this. You know that I love you unconditionally and we  
would still be happily married without kids. But seeing you pregnant,  
carrying my child for the next eight months, makes me fall deeper in  
love with you. You continually amaze me and I know you’re gonna be an  
incredible mother. I can’t wait to start this new stage in our lives  
together. I know the pregnancy won’t be a picnic for you, but I’m here  
for you for everything you need: Holding your hair while you vomit,  
rubbing your swollen ankles, running out in the middle of the night to  
buy cookie dough ice-cream…whatever.”

CJ’s face contorts into a grimace. “Ewww! I didn’t realize  
pregnancy would involve all that. That’s it, I’m out. You can do this  
all on your own.” Chuckling aloud, CJ covers Danny’s lips with her  
own. “ You better damn well take care of me after you did this!” She  
jests, running a hand along Danny’s jaw-line. “Seriously? Thank you,  
darling. Nothing will make me happier than being able to give us a  
child, but I can’t do this alone. I’m very grateful to have you. I  
have every confidence that you’ll make a doting father.”

“I hope so. I just want to shout this to the world. I  
impregnated my wife. My ego is the size of Montana right now.” He  
laughs out loud and slides a hand under the waist band of CJ’s panties.

“And God willing in a few days you’ll be able to brag til your  
ego’s the size of Texas,” CJ concedes. “ But right now we have to pray  
and wait patiently.”

“And I know the perfect way to pass all that time.” Danny arches  
a brow suggestively and begins to slowly remove CJ’s tank top.

** ***


End file.
